Steve Bloom assesses recent events in the Palestine-Israel conflict and calls for global solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for liberation.
Introductory note: Many of us who are involved in building movements to end US genocidal policies against Black, Brown and Indigenous Peoples find the intensifying genocide of US-backed Israel against the people of Palestine to be heinous and hateful. Dialogues which challenge us to think and act strategically are of vital importance, especially ones that comply with the self-determination requirements of centering the voices of the Palestinian resistance. In this context we endorse this statement written by our comrade Steve Bloom as a means of furthering our dialogues about how best to support a free Palestine, once and forever—Matt Meyer, Ashaki Binta, Jalil Muntaqim, Jihad Abdulmumit, tag harmon, Aisha Mohammad, Meg Starr.
Introduction
On October 27, while the Israeli state escalated its murderous bombardment of Gaza and proceeded with a ground invasion, the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly for a ceasefire. There were 120 votes in favor and only 14 opposed (including Israel and the US), and 45 abstaining (including most major US allies).
The people of the world did not decide to launch the armed conflict that was initiated on October 7. Neither did the populations of either Israel or Gaza who are most directly affected. But, everyone in the world must now relate to what’s happening. As activists in the USA who have consistently sided with the struggle of the Palestinian people for liberation, it’s imperative that we think through how we do so in a way that’s consistent with our commitment to the dismantling of the US empire, with our support for national self-determination by the oppressed, and also with our basic humanity—which is always challenged in times of armed conflict. The problems are both conceptual (ideological) and practical, with each of these elements having a significant impact on the other. This article is one individual’s effort to get the balance right. I realize even as I am working on it that this is probably impossible to achieve in any absolute sense, if only because the right balance itself shifts with daily events.
Self-Determination for Palestine
We should start with the most important question: the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination. “Self-determination,” as I understand it, means not only the right to freedom and independence for all peoples, but also the right to determine the tactics and strategies by which people build their own liberation movements. This clearly includes the right to pursue liberation through armed struggle. At the same time, we note that the decision to launch this specific round of armed struggle was made primarily by one Palestinian faction, Hamas. And yet, there are multiple Palestinian organizations with different strategic visions and various levels of support. It is clear nonetheless that the ability of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood to spotlight Israel’s military vulnerability received an enthusiastically positive response from masses of people in Palestine and throughout the Arab/Islamic world. Whatever the varying feelings and positions among Palestinians regarding Hamas’s demonstrable violations of international human rights law, that positive response must be understood in the context of Israel’s 70+ years of international human rights violations and genocidal policies against the people of Gaza and Palestine.
We can understand the sentiment that civilian Israeli casualties are, in essence, simply payback for all the Palestinian civilian casualties over the years. Yet we should not let these events pass without commenting on their negative impact. As successful as Hamas’s military action was on its own terms, how much more successful might it have been both on its own terms and in terms of mobilizing support and solidarity on a global stage (a vital question we will turn to shortly), had different strategic choices been made?
At the same time we must completely reject the equals sign that is placed at the center of so many statements which “condemn the violence against civilians on both sides.” There is no moral equivalence between the actions of Hamas and the violence of the Israeli state. We note from this point of view that there has never been a revolt of enslaved people in the history of the world that did not commit excesses of violence which would, today, be classified as war crimes. We nonetheless cheer on those in revolt and hope for their success. Palestinians have not become the slaves of the Israelis. But the dynamic of systemic oppression lasting for generations and leading to actions in this case that can also be properly characterized as “war crimes” is directly parallel. In the end the blame for this, too, lies with the oppressor nation.
We should insist, simultaneously, that a genuine war of liberation must strive to keep incidents of this nature to a minimum. A political current that pursues retribution against civilians as a conscious strategy raises the question of whether it represents the best choice to lead a freedom movement. There are times when such formations will be in the lead, of course—whether outside observers approve or disapprove of this fact. In that context, it’s necessary to seek an orientation which clearly supports the movement of the oppressed, even the right of that movement to generate its own leadership (including a leadership some may disapprove of), while not violating our commitment to revolutionary morality or to a strategic orientation that most effectively advances the struggle.
Wider Conflict
The result of events is now a substantially escalated armed conflict in which Palestinian civilians are the primary casualties. For Hamas, it seems that generating this stage of the conflict, knowing full well who the casualties would be, was among its objectives., From a strictly military point of view there is, arguably, a considerable advantage to drawing the Israeli Defense Force into an urban war on terrain where Hamas has superior tactical maneuverability. And, there is the clear success of October 7 in galvanizing public opinion in the rest of the Muslim world, halting the process of normalizing relations with Israel that had been underway in a number of states, and drawing other armed factions into active engagement.
The choice made to launch Al-Aqsa Flood now awaits the judgment of history. Will it be remembered as a military adventure that primarily resulted in a new round of Israeli genocide—or perhaps even as among the events that triggered World War III? Or will it be viewed after a span of years as the decisive turning point in the struggle for Palestinian self-determination in which the oppressed people stood up and began a resistance that finally turned the tide? There are commentators predicting each of these, and other potential outcomes somewhere in between. For our purposes today, let’s merely note that the current reality is pregnant with multiple possibilities.
Global Solidarity
One element which will play a key role in determining which pathway history decides to take will be how much success we have in building a global solidarity movement. One of the most positive things to note so far is that protests around the world, especially led by people of Jewish descent, against the current Israeli military campaign remain strong. World-wide political opposition to the Zionist project is probably at its apex historically and shows every prospect of continuing to grow.
This international process has already had some considerable success, dramatically shifting the public debate in recent decades. Even Biden had to challenge Israel when it initially imposed a total siege on Gaza, unlike in the past when US leaders have simply given Israel carte blanche to wage war however its current government liked. It’s important, therefore, to remind ourselves of the power a mass solidarity movement can bring to bear, because building such a movement remains the most essential element of our strategy in the face of these events. Combating apartheid in South Africa meant building coalitions across ideological, tactical, religious, political, economic, and geographic lines. We will require no less to succeed in the struggle against Israeli apartheid.
There is considerable evidence that the global movement in support of Palestinian rights is gaining ground within Israel itself. Resistance to military service among young Israelis has been at an all-time high, with hundreds of high-schoolers jointly proclaiming in recent months that they will refuse to fight in the Israeli Defense Force.
Another Israeli voice is also worth noting, former IDF soldiers and resisters who make up the group Breaking the Silence. “Our Jewish separatist government brought us to this point,” they wrote. “Israel’s security policy, for decades now, has been to ‘manage the conflict.’ Successive Israeli governments insist on round after round of violence as if any of it will make a difference. They talk about ‘security,’ ‘deterrence,’ ‘changing the equation.’ All of these are code words for bombing the Gaza Strip to a pulp, always justified as targeting terrorists, yet always with heavy civilian casualties. In between these rounds of violence we make life impossible for Gazans, and then act surprised when it all boils over.”
At the same time, we have to remind ourselves that for all of its real and potential successes, at the level of the Israeli state the international solidarity movement hasn’t made a dent in the resolve to ethnically cleanse the entirety of “Greater Israel.” Indeed, from this point of view the politics of Israel has moved further and further toward outright fascist solutions, which brings us full circle and faces us once again with the need to understand why major Palestinian factions have, for the moment at least, recommitted themselves to an armed struggle strategy, as well as why Hamas’s initial action was greeted with so much favorable sentiment within the Palestinian diaspora.
Political Priorities
In Europe and the US, the task is to participate in the protests initiated by Palestinians and Muslims and to seek their broadening by a still greater inclusion of the labor movement and all movements of the oppressed. This is the most tangible form of our international solidarity today. It reflects a growing sentiment that actually has a chance to impact events as noted above—even if only by reducing the severity of the consequences for the civilian population of Gaza. These mass protests are also key in a global context where the United States and Europe are engaged in a proxy war with Russia in Ukraine, and are preparing to confront China in Taiwan. The reference above to the danger of World War III is not hyperbole.
The Israeli/US attack on Gaza is an act of war against every Arab country, also against Iran and other Muslim-majority nations, as well as all contemporary struggles against colonialism and neocolonialism. This prompts at least the states in the Middle East region to respond more or less strongly. In this way, Israel shines a spotlight on a decades-old crisis of Arab leadership, an inability of established ruling elites to respond adequately to colonialism and imperialist oppression in the region. We will see how far this new militancy goes, but even now it should be clear to all that the attempts over the years to find some middle ground are now history. The Camp David accord of 1978, in which Jordan and Egypt recognized Israel, and the Oslo agreement of 1993 that established administration by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank including security collaboration with the Zionist state, have clearly revealed that they were never part of a genuine solution. Indeed, through its own policy of aggressive settlement of the West Bank and its carving up of that territory into tiny fragments, Israel has decisively eliminated any possibility that might have previously existed for a two-state solution.
Palestinians have now turned once again toward the tactic of Intifada or popular uprising. For the Palestinian Intifada to win, it must be adopted throughout the Arab world and it must generate active support from allies on a global scale. Any proposed solution that emerges reflecting a predominant sentiment among the Palestinian people themselves must be given due respect by the international community as it seeks a solution to this crisis. Without a plan for a free Palestine in a democratic, secular nation-state, the only option is the deepening of an Israeli-imposed fascist (i.e. militarized, racist) regime conducting genocidal policies against the Palestinian people.
Let us call for:
- An immediate ceasefire to stop the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza and allow humanitarian aid to reach the civilian population!
- End the blockade/siege of Gaza; open the borders!
- End the occupation of the West Bank!
- Stop all US military aid to Israel—US Out of the Middle East!
- End all forms of US support for Israeli apartheid!
